Dr. Ira Helderman is a licensed psychotherapist in addition to being a professor of religious studies. His book, Prescribing the Dharma: Psychotherapists, Buddhist Traditions, and Defining Religion, examines the diverse ways therapists incorporate, obscure, or transform Buddhist practices in therapy. In this interview, Dr. Helderman shares his nuanced views on religion and psychotherapy, self-disclosure, ethics, and the myth of the “blank slate,” i.e., the normative value of neutrality in both therapy and academia.
If you’d like to read more on mindfulness and the ethics of informed consent, you can read Dr. Helderman’s pieces on Psychology Today.
